A Saint’s Remains and the Pope’s Choir at St. Patrick’s Cathedral

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Luciano Lamonarca, left, the president of the Saint Pio Foundation in New York City, with Monsignor Robert T. Ritchie, the rector of St. Patrick’s Cathedral, next to the wool cloak of Padre Pio. Relics of the saint will be on display for public veneration in the cathedral on Sunday and Monday.CreditEdu Bayer for The New York Times

The popular Roman Catholic saint known as Padre Pio has gained rock star appeal since his death in 1968 and his canonization in 2002, so perhaps it is fitting that he is on a national tour.

Or at least his remains are. A half dozen relics of the saint have been brought from Italy to the United States for the first time and will be on display this weekend at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Manhattan.

As it happens, St. Patrick’s is getting another rare visit this weekend from another Catholic phenomenon in Italy: the Sistine Chapel Choir, one of the world’s oldest choirs and whose home is in St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City.

Whether the dual appearance is divine providence or a mere coincidence, officials at St. Patrick’s are making the most of the lineup and turning them into something of a double feature.

The relics will be on display for public veneration in the cathedral on Sunday and Monday with officials expecting large numbers of devotees to show up.

Attendance for the choir’s performance at the cathedral on Saturday night will be more limited — the cathedral can hold 2,200 people and the event requires a ticket.

But the singing ensemble — also known as “the Pope’s Choir” — will perform again during at a special Mass at 10:15 a.m. on Sunday as part of a welcoming service for the relics that will be celebrated by Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan, the leader of the Archdiocese of New York.

During the special Mass, the relics will be on display in the cathedral’s baptistery and the Sistine Chapel Choir will alternate with the cathedral choir in performing liturgical songs.

Other services will be said in honor of Padre Pio, with a Mass to mark the end of the exhibition scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Monday to be conducted by Msgr. Robert T. Ritchie, the rector of St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

On Friday, Monsignor Ritchie showed two of Padre Pio’s relics that had been installed in a tiny sacristy chapel in the cathedral: The saint’s cloak of brown wool was draped over a mannequin and his brown, fingerless glove was displayed in an ornate reliquary display case. The glove is soaked in the saint’s blood.

Padre Pio wore gloves to cover the constant wounds on his hands, which his devotees believe were part of a series of wounds on his body that corresponded to the stigmata, or crucifixion wounds of Jesus Christ.

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Padre Pio’s fingerless glove in case. The glove is soaked in the saint’s blood.CreditEdu Bayer for The New York Times

Devotees regard these wounds as signs of holiness and that they never became infected, though they did bleed.

“They say he would lose a half liter of blood each day,” said Luciano Lamonarca, who as president of the Saint Pio Foundation in New York City helped organize the relics tour to honor the 130th anniversary of Padre Pio’s birth in southern Italy and the 15th anniversary of his canonization.

Monsignor Ritchie said other saints also bore stigmata wounds, including St. Francis in the 13th century.

“Padre Pio is in a line of very spiritual people for having this special gift from God to show the importance of suffering for others’ salvation,” he said.

Some devotees say the blood from Padre Pio’s stigmata smelled like flowers and the monsignor explained that bodies of Catholic saints were often said to emanate a floral odor.

“It’s called the fragrance of sanctity,” he said.

Despite Padre Pio’s ever-present wounds, Mr. Lamonarca said that when he died, his body appeared unwounded, “like the skin of a baby.”

But the saint has also drawn critics who have dismissed him as a self-mutilating hoaxer who exploited people’s credulity and caused his wounds with carbolic acid. But Mr. Lamonarca claimed to have witnessed his own little miracle related to the saint’s remains.

After his wife, Valentina, had a miscarriage, Mr. Lamonarca said they visited Italy and met a man who kept a handkerchief soaked with the blood of Padre Pio.

The man pulled out the garment and, Mr. Lamonarca said, “It was as if somebody had brought in 1,000 roses into the room. It was so strong and intense, my wife and I started to cry immediately.”

Not long after that, their son Sebastian was conceived, he said.

The Sistine Chapel Choir dates back in various incarnations to the earliest days of the Catholic Church. Of its current 47 members — all male — 22 are adults and 25 are boys, mostly ages 9 to 12 whose voices have not yet deepened.

Massimo Palombella, the director of the Sistine Chapel Choir, stood with tour organizers on Friday and typed on his phone.

“It’s not a problem,” he said, looking up briefly to answer a question about the challenges of a large space like St. Patrick’s. “We sing in the biggest cathedral in the world at St. Peter’s.”

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page A20 of the New York edition with the headline: Double Feature at St. Patrick’s: A Saint’s Clothes and the Pope’s Choir. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe